Mexico state arrests four after attacks on PepsiCo brand

May 28, 2012|By Elinor Comlay | Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The central Mexican state of Guanajuato has arrested four members of a drug cartel after a series of attacks that set fire to warehouses and trucks belonging to PepsiCo's Sabritas brand of potato chips over the weekend.

Similar attacks against Sabritas, which caused no injuries, also took place in the western state of Michoacan, the company said.

In total, the attacks and fires at five distribution centers across the two states damaged infrastructure, trucks and goods. PepsiCo has not yet calculated the cost of the damage, the company said in a statement late on Sunday.

Mexico, where PepsiCo earned $4.8 billion or 7 percent of its global net revenue in 2011, is among the company's biggest foreign operations.

Authorities did not give a motive behind the attacks, which appeared to be the first to hit a global brand during Mexico's bloody war on drug cartels.

The gangs have extorted businesses to boost their incomes, though a spokesman for federal police in Michoacan told Mexican television there was no evidence of attempted extortion.

The four arrested in Guanajuato were all members of Los Caballeros Templarios gang (Knights Templar), an offshoot of the La Familia cartel that is fighting for territory in the west of Mexico.

Around 55,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexico's President Felipe Calderon took power in December 2006 and launched a military crackdown on cartels.